Apparatus for control of railway-trains.



P. UTNE.

APPARATUS FOR CONTROL OF RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLICATION II LED AUG. 3, 190B.

Patented Apr. 27, 1909.

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WITNESSES P. UTNE.

APPARATUS FOR CONTROL OI" RAILWAY TRAINS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.3, 1908.

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' APPARATUS FOR UONTROL OF RAILWAY TRAINS. APP-LIOATION FILED AUG. 3, 1908.

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PER UTNE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE SWISSVALE, PENN SYLVAN I A, A C

UNION SWITCH 8: SIGNAL COMPANY, OF

()RPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

APPARATUS FOR CONTROL OF RAILWAY-TRAINS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 3,

- To all whom it'mug concern:

Be it known that .l, PER Il'rN of New York, inthe county of New York and State of New York, l

5 Appa atus for the ontrol of Railway- Trains, of which the following is a full, clear,

, and exact description, reference being had to the aeeonipanying drawings, forming part of this speciiicz'ttion, in which-- Figure is a sectional elevation of a porti on of a car or other vehicle showing one arran gement of apparatus embodying the main features of my invention; Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view of the mechanism for 0perating the exhaust valves Fig. is a detail sectional view of one form of governor which may be employed; Fig. 4 is a sectional detail view showing one form of trip arm; Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view showing means which may be employed for locking the circuit breaker; Figno is a diagram of the operating parts shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 7 and 8 are diagrams showing modifications; and Fig. 9 is a diagram showing the arrangement of circuits he circuit breakers on a number of cars or vehicles may be closed from any car or vehicle.

My invention has relation to the control of ra'lway trains, and-moreparticularly to apparatus which is designed to eii'eet the automatie stopping of trains or the reduction in train speed, should the train attempt to pass certain points along the track contrary to information conveyed at such points by block signals or other means.

The invention is designed to provide simple and effective apparatus of this character, possessing certain other novel features of construction and arrangement hereinafter 40 described.

The precise nature of my invention will be best understood by reference to the aecompanying drawings, which will now be described, it being premised, however, that vai5 rious changes may he made therein by those skilled in. the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

While my invention will be described zipplirzble to train control stood trat the term train include 11 at only vehicles, (KC

HS I desire it underis intended to trains proper, but alsosingle ept as to those features thereof rave invented a new and useful l cylinder 7.

Patented April 27, 1999. 1908. Serial No. 456,715.

, hereinafter described, which have special reference to a train composed of a number of attached cars or vehicles. 4 I desire it further understood that while I have shown the apparatus arranged to control the exhaust valve of a train brake pipe, my invention may he used in connection with any suitable means for reducing or stopping the speed of the train.

In the drawings, the'numeral 2 designates the usual train pipe,

which is provided with an exhaust valve 3. The stem of this valve has an arm 4, to-which is connected a piston rod 5, connected to a piston 6, working in a The cylinder 7 receives its supply of air by a connection 8 with a reservoir 9. which is suitably supported on the ear or other vehicle, and wh ch is connectedswith the train pipe 2 by apipe 10, having therein a check valve '1 1, which is arranged to tend to kee the maximum pressure of the train pipein tlie reservoir, regardless of pressure variations in the train pipe.

Air is admitted to the cylinder the port 12, which is controlled by a valve 13. This valve is normally held in open position, as shown in Fig.- 2, by the action of an electromagnet 14, the piston 6 being normally held in position to keep the valve 3 closed by the pressure of air admitted to the cylinder 7, through the open valve 13. The piston 6 is moved in the opposite direction by a spring 15, to close the valve, assisted, if desired, by a eounter-weight 15, attached to the stem of the valve. The magnet 14 is connected in an electrical circuit supplied by a battery 16, or other suitable means, and in the arrangement shown in Fig. 6, is in-parallel with a rel y magnet 17, having a movable Contact arm 18.

. 19 is a pivoted trip arm which is suitably supported on the locomotive, ear or other vehicle and which depends therefrom in position to contact with a track stop 20, placed along the track at the desired point. These track stops. may be connected with signal 7 through i mechanism so as to he. moved into and out of operating position in eorrespondenee with the movement of the signals, or they may be fixed stops, placed at the points along the track where it s desirable to insure the eontrol of passing trains.

. 10 3 In the drawings, I have shown the trip arm as normally held in its central operating position by means of springs 21, but this may l be accomplished by any suitable means.

22 designates a circuit breaker, which is operated by the movement of the trip arm 19. This circuit breaker is shown diagram- -matically in Fig. 6, and may be of any suitable character. One form of circuit breaker suitable for the purpose is shown in detail in Fig. 4. In the construction shown in this figure, the upper portion of the arm 19 has acam surface 23, which is engaged by a roller 24, on the lower end of a spring-pressed rod 25. The rod 25 is arranged upon its upward movement to engage a movable contact bar 26, carried by a plunger 27, the arrangement being such that when the trip arm 19 is moved in either direction by its engagement with one of the track stops, the rod 25 will be actuated to engage the contact-carrying member 26, and thereby open the circuit. 28 is another circuit breaker, which is normally closed, but which is arrangedto be opened by means of a connection 29 with the movable member of a centrifugal governor '30, which isdriven by suitable drivingconnections 31, with an axle or other moving part of the car or other vehicle on which the apparatus is mounted. ()ne form of governor suitable for this purpose is shown in Fig. 3. The governor of this figure is an ordinary ball governor. The movement of the balls 30 under the centrifugal action of rotation effects a movement of the movable member 29, and thereby effects the opening of the circuit at the contacts 32. The circuit breaker 22 is in series with the movable member or armature 18, of the relay magnet 17, and in parallel with the circuit breaker 28.

The operation of the apparatus, as thus far described, is as follows: Supposing the vehicle or train to be moving below the predetermined speed toward one of the trip arms 19; the centrifugal action o f the governor 30 at this speed is not sufficiently great to open the circuit breaker at 28, so that when the' trip arm 19 strikes the track stop 20, and

thereby opens the circuit breaker 22, the re-- ceeds the predetermined limit, the circuit breaker 28 is continuously held open and when the trip arm 19 engages the track stop 20, and opens the cireuitr'breaker .22, the relay 17 is thereby de'e'nergized. This denergizes the magnet 14, and the valve 12 is immediately closed by the action of a spring or other suitable means, thereby causing the iston 6 to move to the other end of the cylmder 7, either by-the spring 15 or it may be by the action of gravity, if the cylinder is located in a vertical position. This movement of the piston 6 opens theval've-3, and permits air to exhaust from the train pipe, until the speed of the train is reduced to the limit at which the governor 30 will act to close the circuit breaker 28 to again energize the relay 17 and the magnet 14.

The time transpiring between the opening and the closing of the circuit breaker 22 while the trip arm 19 is-being dragged over the stop arm, should be made lon enough to permit the armature 18 of the re ay 17 to drop. This may be accomplished through the medium of any suitable retarding device, such as a dash-pot, in connection with the trip arm, for the purpose of making its movement back to central position after heing-tripped, a relatively slow one.

with a secondary valve 33, whose stem 1s connected by an arm 34 and rod 35 with a piston 36, working in a cylinder 37, connected by a pipe 38, with the reservoir 9.

exhaust from the train pipe independently of the valve 3, in case the pressure in the train pi e, ,as well as that in the reservoir 9, should )e exhausted at the same time, so as to enable the building up of pressure in the train 6 to c ose the valve 3. The cylinder 37 and its piston 36 are preferably so constructed as to operate on a slightly higher pressure than the cylinder 7, in order to permit the valve 3 to'close before the valve 33 opens, when the pressure is raised in the reservoir 9. It will be noted that the connections to the two valves are such that the valve 3 is held closed by the pressure in the cylinder 7, while the valve 33 is held in its open position by-the pressure in the cylinder 37.

Fig. 7 shows a modified arrangement in the control circuit for the magnet 1 1 corresponding to the magnet 14, of Fig. 6, the holding current for this magnet being carried through a separate movable contact 39,of the relay 40, which corresponds to the relay 17 shown in Fig. 6'. In this arrangement of the circuits, this relay 4.0 is connected in parallel with the magnet 14*, while the movable contact 39 is in series with the magnet 14 and also in series with the tripoperated circuit breaker 22 and the gov ernor operated-circuit breakel 28.

In the modification shown in Fig. 8, the relay is omitted and the-function of this relay is performed by means of a circuit breaker 41, which is arranged to be opened to breakthe circuit when the magnet is deenergized by the opening of the train and governor-controlled circuit breakers 22? and 28'. Fig. 2 shows the details of this circuit breaker 41.

If the absolute stopping of the train is deand the circuit breaker arranged in the form I have shown the train pipe 2, as provided.

The purpose of this valve 33 is to close the ipe sufiieiently to actuate the piston sired, the speed governor 3 0 may be omitted ed in series with .the train pipe.

of a push button or other manually-operated device, which may be operated by hand onlv when the train has been brought to a full I stop. In such case, this circuit breaker is to pick holding rangement is illustrated .liagrammatirally in Fig. 9. This figure also shows an arrangetrip valve, such as is the case with an train having more than one motor car, and means are provided whereby all the trip valves may be closed at one time from either one of the circuit breakers. in this figure, 41 designates the normally open circuit tzeaker's of the ditl'erent cars. One contact of each of these circuit breakers is connectthe trip-operated circuit breakers 22, and thence through thebattery into a conductor 42, which extends throughout the train. The other contact of each circuit breaker is connected to a second line conductor 43. 1t will be readily seen from this diagram that by closing either of the circuit breakers 41, all of the relay magnets 14 may be energized, these magnets being connected in multiple between the two conductors 42 and 4 3. This arrangement obviates the necessity for getting oil' the train, and hunting throughout its length to ind all the valves that have been tripped for the purpose of closing them by hand. r

It is preferable to lock the circuit breakers 41 a in their open position, in such a way as to make them inaccessible unless one or more of the valves 3 have been opened and the train pipe exhausted. This may be accomplished in various ways One means for this purpose is shown in detail in Fig. 5, in which the movable push button member 44, which actuates the movable contact of the circuit breaker 41 a is normally locked against movement by means of a piston 45, working in a cylinder 46, having a connection 4 7 with The piston 45 is normally held in ,the locking position shown in Fig. 5 by the, train pipe pressure, but when this pressure has been exhausted, the lock is released by the action of a spring 48 or other suitable means, which will move the piston 45 out of locking engagement with the push button '44.

It will be understood that various other modifications may be made 1n the details of construction and arrangement. The trips 20 together with the train-carried trip arms 15, may be of any well known or suitable character, various kinds of circuit breakers may be used in connection with the trip arms 19 to be operated thereby, the-form of governor and the driving connections for operating the same, together with the circuit breaker operup its armature and close its own current, and thus bring the valve 3 to its closed position again. Such an ar- 1 l l l l l l l l ated thereby, n'iaybe of widely difierent character, and the arrangement of circuits can be changed in many ways without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention What I claim is:

1. .ln apparatus for train control, a s ieedcontrolling valve, a motive device for bolding said valve in closed position, electromagm-tic means for reversing said motive device, and trip means for controlling the ment wherein the tram has more than. one electric l circuit of the e echo-magnetic means; substantially as described.

2. 1n apparatus for train control, a speedcontrolling device, a motor for holding said device in one position, an electro-inagnetic device for reversing the action of the motor. and trip mechanism operated by the nlove-" ment of the train for controlling the circuit of the magnet; substantially as described.

3. .ln apparatus fortrain control, a speed controlling device, a motor for holding said device in one position, a trip operated device for reversing the action of the motor to change the operative position of'thc speed controlling device, and a centrifugal device operated by the movement ofthe train for controlling the action oi the trip; substan, tially as described. 4. ln train control a paratus, a train pipe having an exhaust va vs, a motor for normally holding said Valve in closed position, means operated by the movement of the train for reversing said motor, a secondary exhaust valve, a motor for holding the last named valve in its open position, a reservoir for supplying said motors, and means operated by failure of pressure in said reservoir to reverse the action of the last named motor, substantially as described.

5. In apparatus for train control, a train pipe having an exhaust valve, a motive de vice for normally holding said valve in closed position, electromagnetic means for controlling the operation of the motive device, and trip-controlled means for controlling the operation of the electromagnetic means, substantially as described.

(3. In apparatus for train control, a train pipe having an exhaust valve, a motive device for mirmally holding said valve in closed position, a magnet for controlling the oper ation of the motive dew'ce, trip mechanism for controlling the circuit of the magnet and arranged when actuated to effect a reversal of the action of the motive device, and 1nanually-operated circuit-controlling means for cilect'ing the energization of the magnet after the operation of the, trip mechanism, substantially as described.

7. ln apparatus for train control, a s )eedcontrolling valve, a motive device for olding said valve in inoperative position, electromagnetic means for control ing the operationof the motive device, trip mechanism for opening the circuit of said means, a manually-operated circuit-closing device for closing such circuit, and means whereby the manually-operated device can notfbe operated unless the trip mechanism has been operated, substantially described.

8. In apparatus for train control, a train pipe having an exhaust valve, a motive device for operating said valve, electromag: netic means for controlling the operation of i the motive device, trip mechanism for coni trolling the circuit of the electromagnetic means, a manually-operated circuit-closing 1 device for closing such circuit, and a lock 1 for said device controlled by train pipe presl sure, substantially as described,

9. In apparatus for train control, the coinl bination vnth a plurality of speed-controlling devices located on different cars or vehicles f of the train, and mechanisms for operating 1 said devices, of means whereby the speedcontrolling devices of a plurality of cars or 1 vehicles can be restored to normal position after 0 eration from any car or vehicle, substantia y as described.

elaesa 10. In apparatus for train control, the combination mth a train pipe having a plurality of exhaust valves located on different" cars or vehicles of the train, electromagnetic means for controlling the position of said valves, trip mechanisms for controlling the circuits of the electromagnetic means, and

circuit-closing devices arranged to eliect the closing of said circuits throughout the train by the operation of any one of such devices, substantially described.

11. in. appara o train control, pipe having plural 3 of escape valves on dine-rent cars or vehicles of the train, tripoperated mechanism for effecting the opena train ing of such valves under predetermined conditions, anal means whereby all the open valves on the train may be closed from one poin or a train, substantially as described.

-1 tnuony whereof, I have hereunto set hand.

ills l PER UTNE. Va'itnesses:

H. Urns. 

